SpectroMagic Review June 2008
SpectroMagic is a night time parade at the MagicKingdom on select nights. This parade sparkles and shines brilliantly with all of its wonderful lights.
SpectroMagic was the predecessor to the Main Street Electric Parade. During the two years that the Electrical Parade returned to the Magic Kingdom SpectroMagic went on hiatus. In April 2001 the beautiful SpectroMagic returned to the streets of the MagicKingdom. When it did return, there were a few changes. Genie now had a float, and the Spectro Men now had faces instead of the masks which were actually a bit scary looking.
Jiminy Cricket, the beloved conscience of Pinocchio is your host for this musical and electrical extravaganza. The music for this parade (On This Magic Night, written by John Debney with Steve Skorija, is the same throughout, but each float has its own music underlying the main musical score. It is also interesting to note that SpectroMagic is the only parade in Disney history that has music recorded in ¾ time.
This beautiful parade has 36 floats, also called Units and runs approximately 15 minutes. While each float has its own beauty, there are a few that deserve special mention.
There is a set of three floats with a fairy on each one. Flora, Fauna and Meriwether are in beautiful flowered floats. One float with a peacock and another with a waterfall amongst the flowers white the other float is simply stunning with flowers. At various times during the parade these floats lose their color and the lights shining are all white. A few seconds later the color will come back. This is an absolutely stunning effect.
Another float that deserves special mention is simply a black float with red lights for trim. It is a very solemn float and the music for this float is darker than the rest of the music. This float actually opens up at various times during the parade and suddenly you see the evil Chernabog. The way this is done is spectacular and amazing to see. Depending on your location in the parade route you may miss this float opening up. If you would like to see it, a cast member should be able to tell you a good place to sit.
We were lucky enough to see this parade twice on our trip to Walt Disney World. We first saw it from Frontierland. I had really been prepared to hate this parade because I am a huge fan of the Electric Parade. Instead I really enjoyed SpectroMagic for what it was: a beautiful light parade with its own incredible qualities. While the music from SpectroMagic is not as catchy as the Baroque Hoedown, it is still great music to surround this parade.
The second time we saw this parade it was from the Hub. This area is amazing. I found out during this viewing that CinderellaCastle changes color with the musical changes during the parade. The effect, if facing CinderellaCastle is absolutely stunning.
If you have never seen an electric parade before, you are in for a very special treat. If you are a fan of the Electrical Parade as I am you will find that this too is a great parade and worth seeing.